Tom Browns Body (Mrs Bradley Book 22)

Tom Brown's Body [Gladys Mitchell] on leondumoulin.nl Tom Brown's Body Paperback – Import, International Edition Book 22 of 66 in the Mrs Bradley Series.
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Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Jun 05, 4cats rated it really liked it Shelves: As always, quirky, unusual and entertaining. The Mrs Bradley novels are like nothing else out there, in this a schoolmaster is murdered and the whole school are suspected, Mrs Bradley investigates. Jul 12, Gillian Kevern rated it liked it Shelves: I always have mixed feelings about Gladys Mitchell's mysteries.

On the one hand, I love her wit, her irreverence, and the way she toys with the boundaries of detective fiction. On the other hand, I am old-fashioned with regards to those same boundaries, and I want to feel that I could have solved the mystery myself. I don't think Tom Brown's Body was entirely successful in this respect, but it was a good story, and there were touches of her usual amusing self. Recommended for fans of the classic I always have mixed feelings about Gladys Mitchell's mysteries.

Recommended for fans of the classic English mystery who don't mind a bit of rule-bending! I had never read a Gladys Michell book before. This was an autographed copy. I like the idea she had actually touched this book back in The style is very different. She starts a new paragraph with something that seems to have happened recently that doesn't synch with what she has written earlier, she then goes back to tell about the past occurence.

I would rate this between a three and a four and will try another by Mitchell. Jan 28, Millstone rated it liked it.

I should say that the title is very much a reference to Tom Brown's Schooldays rather than any thoughts that may be harboured about mouldering in the grave. If you read Billy Bunter or similar school stories in the past, the first few chapter 2. If you read Billy Bunter or similar school stories in the past, the first few chapters will be quite nostalgic; if you hated such tales, you probably won't get past them: As context, I was unaware of Miss Mitchell or her prodigious output until I stumbled across this one in a bargain bin at a charity shop, looking sadly in need of a bit of repair work; I was unaware that it was 22 in a series until Goodreads told me and unaware that there were nearly 40 more until consulting Wikipedia.

I liked it enough to do some more, but tracking them all down may be a task more suited to Mrs Bradley than me. And there is likely to be lots more repair work. Apr 22, Scotteri rated it did not like it. Racism inexcusable even for its time, an uninteresting plot, and an unconvincing solution. I'd recommend giving this one a miss, though.


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Apr 08, Puzzle Doctor rated it it was ok. A sporadically entertaining but mostly just convoluted shaggy dog story. Full review soon at classicmystery. Oct 22, Esdaile rated it liked it Shelves: I feel that this story suffers from what most murder mysteries suffer from, namely a feeling of indifference to the identity of the murderer compared to the fascination in the pursuit and discovery of the guilty party.

I think this is the trap which Agatha Christie at her best avoids and sets her apart from nearly all other crime writers except Arthur Conan Doyle. However, this book redeemed itself to a large extent in my eyes by other qualities: The author nimbly weeves a way between realism and the eldrich, to use a word which Gladys Mitchell herself uses and which I have otherwise not seen in any story except the tales of horror of H.

Indeed, Freudianism and witchcraft play an important role in this story, as we are led to expect from the blurb on the back of the old Penguin edition, which states that the writer is "an enthusiastic student of the works of Sigmund Freud, her outlook has also been largely coloured by an interest in witchcraft engendered by her acquaintance with Miss Helen Simpson. I was not alive in England during the late forties so maybe people did behave then as they behave in this story, but I am not convinced. I have read several novels written at about the same time as this book and I strongly suspect that even allowing for the much greater formality and adherence to The Queen's English considered appropriate at that time compared to what is expected today, the language of the characters in "Tom Brown's Body" incidentally, I may be obtuse, but I fail to see the significance of that title to the story is so often histrionic as to stretch credulity to breaking point.

The characters are also extremely abrupt and even offensive to one another and after a murder is committed in their midst seem to me to be unbelievably unperturbed, behaving more like characters do in a play than in a realistic tale of events. In fact, an air of unreality permeates the entire story. I was never far from the feeling that the author was having me on.

Is she taking her own craft seriously or is she just ensuring that her latest thriller will bring in the moolah? In this way, I am more reminded of Mrs Elizabeth George, unplesantly. This is all something of a romp, a jape a joke. Where is the moral anchor? Is this Christian, or Pagan or what is it?

I believe that novels whose central focus is a murder should have some kind of moral compass and this story has none that I was able to identify. The characters themsleves are psychologically vivid but unconvincing. There is no feeling in the book that the characters are shattered, as they surely would have been, by the central event.. The author suggests and states they are at times, but they do appear so neither in their behaviour nor in their speech. Several of the boys sound and behave like eccentric adults and it is with difficulty that I have to accept that they are 16 or 17 years of age.

As with many "whuddunits" I enjoyed this while reading it, but felt somewhat dissatisfied at the end, not as dissatisfied however, as with a mystery thriller by Ngaio Marsh, who seems to me to share the same faults as Gladys Mitchell without the redeeming qualities of richness of language and interest of character, and vividness of description; and while the characters do not convince me, they are colourful, memorable, enjoyable. The novel teems with English eccentrics. Sofaras I know, Ngaio Marsh is much more famous today than Gladys Mitchell, but on the basis of only one book so far, I would rank Gladys Mitchell higher.

I would place her firmly in the middle, not among the best and not among the weakest, of those who have applied themselves to this strangely English genre, the whodunnit. May 31, Sara rated it liked it Shelves: Gladys Mitchell was one of the British Crime Queens working in the first half of the 20th century. She was about as prolific as Christie or Marsh, but hasn't remained quite as popular. I found her becasuse of a small series of videos that were made featuring her primary detective, Mrs.

Tom Brown's Body (Mrs. Bradley, Book 22) by Gladys Mitchell PDF - Ecole de musique E-books

Bradley is a psychologist and widow who has lived a dreadfully interesting life. She has a wide circle of friends and oftentimes they draw her into murder investigations. The mini series was produced Gladys Mitchell was one of the British Crime Queens working in the first half of the 20th century. Tom Brown's Body is set in and around Spey School.

Bradley is in the region searching for a book of spells that belonged to a distant relative. She is attempting to wheedle it out of Mrs. Harris, the local witch, when a school master is found murdered. Bradley is asked by the headmaster to look into the matter. Suspects abound; othe masters, jealous lovers, angry students, prospective fathers-in-law, village witches. Everyone comes under Mrs.

The mysetery itself meanders a bit. There are boys sneaking out of bed, school masters dabbling in the dark arts, master's wives dabbling in adultery. Bradley doesn't so much collect clues as herd witnesses about. The book suffers from the obvious issues of its era. It was written in and so is not as socially progressive as one might like.

In actual fact, it reads like something written in The war is very much not in evidence outside of the fact that it has been hard to find school masters to fill vacant spots ast Spey. Another downside, is that the Mrs. Bradley of the books is, sadly, not very much like Diana Rigg.

She is not terribly attractive or glamourous. I suspect that most of my fondess for this series is carried over from the tv show rather than the other way around. I gave it 3 stars, but I don't know that I'll be delving much further into Ms. How do series work? Bradley Mysteries Series by cover 1—7 of 68 next show all. Speedy Death by Gladys Mitchell.

The Longer Bodies by Gladys Mitchell. The Saltmarsh Murders by Gladys Mitchell. Death at the Opera by Gladys Mitchell. Dead Men's Morris by Gladys Mitchell. Come Away, Death by Gladys Mitchell. Peter's Finger by Gladys Mitchell. Printer's Error by Gladys Mitchell.


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